FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Brazil President Dilma Rousseff visit before Thursday's World Cup opener.

FIFA TV Dir Niclas Ericson said that the governing body is "not deliberately keeping images of FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Brazil President Dilma Rousseff off screens," according to Mike Collett of REUTERS. The crowd at the Corinthians Arena "booed and jeered" Rousseff when a shot of her cheering one of Brazil's goals in its 3-1 win over Croatia was briefly shown on the big screen inside the stadium on Thursday. The image of Blatter "has often been booed" at past World Cups when he was shown on the screen in the stadium, and this World Cup "was noticeable for the fact there was no opening speech by either the country's president or Blatter before the start of tournament." Asked whether it was a deliberate policy not to show their images, Ericson defended the "editorial decisions" taken by the production team responsible for the images both globally and in the stadium itself. Ericson: "The production team are focusing on what is happening on the pitch therefore the focus is on the football." He added that the cumulative global TV viewing figures by the end of the World Cup "are likely to be the largest ever recorded for any sporting event since the advent of television" (REUTERS, 6/15).